The Author and The Artist
by ipromiseimnotatotaldweeb
Summary: A soft warm breeze blew over the beach, as the sun scorched down onto the now burning sand, making it shimmer like the many stars in Lucy's new book. - Only a little NaLu AU ...enjoy :)


**Okkaaaiiii! YO! I'm sorry I haven't uploaded anything and I have been really annoying with updating but i promise i have a good reason! ... *Whispers* I'm a goose.. I actually don't have a good reason apart from the fact I have just started college and it's terrifying and I barely have any free time between mountains of homework and work!**

 **I also want to say a huge thank you to all the people favouriting/following/reviewing my stories! I really do love you all! Reading them makes me so SO happy and cheers me up whenever i get a notificiation! So as usual if you like this please leave a review!**

 **I don't own fairytail! Also I apologise as Natsu is kinda (very) OOC in this one!**

* * *

A soft warm breeze blew over the beach, as the sun scorched down onto the now burning sand, making it shimmer like the many stars in Lucy's new book.

She had been given the day off, due to a fire starting in the office, related to the apparent heatwave making its way through her lovely town of Magnolia. Because of this, she decided she would spend the day at the small beach near her studio apartment, called 'Fairy Cove' with its infamous story of forbidden love between the King Spriggan and Queen of the Fae.

In preparation for her beach day, she went shopping the day before and treated herself to, not only a new white and pink bikini, but also to a new book named 'Your Guide to the Stars' explaining the stories behind the Constellations and the reasons behind their names.

Though she'd always had an interest in the stars, especially with her mother being an avid astrologer when she was alive, Lucy had only recently been trying to research the backstories for them all, due to her new book's plotline revolving around a young wizard with celestial powers. The celestial powers depending on what constellation she called on, thus she needed to understand the meaning of them before giving them each personalities and characteristics.

Although Lucy had planned out most of the plot and background characters, she had yet to come up with an idea for neither the celestial wizard's partner-in-crime, nor his/her powers, so instead she opted for finding out more on the constellations. After all you can never do too much research for a book.

* * *

Which left her here, at the beach on a Wednesday morning, with only a few people coming and leaving shortly, or even just passing through; very few people stayed longer than an hour.

There was the family trio, who owned the Connell Rifle Shop in town, the parents holding the hands of their little girl and swinging her as they walked through the waves breaking on the sand; the two teens, both downing more bottles of wine in an hour than Lucy would have been able to manage over one night! But even they left after a while. Then there was the guy around her own age with gorgeous pink- no not pink.. it was more of a peach? No.. fuschia? Definitely not.. WAIT! SALMON! A guy with SALMON coloured hair, not that far away from her eating multiple types of take-out food, whilst drawing something she couldn't quite see, but he seemed really into it.

Lucy got about halfway through her book when she had to stifle a yawn; she failed and squeaked slightly but unbeknownst to her caught the attention of salmon-locks to her right.

'Urghh.. never again am I pulling an all-nighter to figure out a stupid character..' She mentally told herself off for wasting hours last night coming up with character ideas for the partner of the heroine in her story. Though she poured her heart into her work, she ended up throwing all the ideas away; none of them seemed to fit. Though she came up with what would have been the perfect match for the heroine, it still didn't feel right. Thus she wasted 8 coffee-induced hours of her life, with nothing to show for it.

After squinting at her phone screen and noting it was only 3:30pm, she decided a short afternoon nap wouldn't do her any harm; so she switched from her cross-legged position and stood up to flick the gathering sand off of her towel before neatly placing it down and lying on her front. Her head on her hands, and her hands over the Constellation book, she began to drift off into a much deeper sleep than she had anticipated.

* * *

Ten minutes passed, then another ten, then another until almost an hour went by and the ton of sun lotion Lucy had applied earlier in the day was beginning to wear off. A rosy tint was showing itself on her shoulders and upper thighs, luckily for her a certain pink- no, salmon haired male had noticed she'd fallen asleep over her book, and had been admiring her for a while.

Natsu- the said salmon haired male- glanced over at the blonde to his left, he guessed she was tired as she was rubbing slightly watering eyes and the squeak he heard from her direction reminded him of how his kitten Happy yawned. After watching her settle into a comfortable position and close her eyes, he proceeded with his drawing.

Initially it had started off as a fire dragon, Igneel, his own creation of the 'Dragon King' as you like, but every King needs his Queen, and he had yet to come up with an idea for her. Well.. that was until a certain blonde walked passed him and he spotted a certain book in her arms.

Hmm.. constellations.. A CELESTIAL DRAGON! That would be a perfect match his Flame Dragon King because not only were stars gorgeous but they were also GIANT FUCKING BALLS OF BURNING GAS!

"Perfect.." Natsu mumbled to himself as he began adjusting certain parts of the dragon's form, adding bioluminescent scales, creating all the constellations he could think of on the dragon's, now labelled, 'Midnight mix of blue and purple' skin. He continued with his drawing but, seeing as he didn't really know much about stars or constellations, could only work for half an hour until his brain had used up all of its limited celestial knowledge.

That was when he began to wonder whether the blonde with the book would be able to lend to him briefly so he could take pictures for reference, but when he looked over to see if she had finished reading it he found she was fast asleep… with the book underneath her.

Whilst he was looking at her, Lucy shifted in her slumber. A lock of hair that had been tucked neatly behind her ear had fallen over her face, moving to and fro as she let out deep breaths. Now she was still he took the time to take in her form properly. Lucy had long blonde eyelashes, almost sparkling in the sun, a small nose and plump lips to match, finished off with a dusting of freckles over her cheeks. Somehow, he would have to convince her to model for him in the future. Her figure convincing him more of this as God had _definitely_ been generous; as well as the tone of her hair and shade of her skin matching like a palette bought from an art shop.

* * *

Instead of waking her up, he decided to leave her be for a moment while he could work on the Dragon Queen's human form rather than her dragon form. After sketching what he thought were just random features, he began to recognise the face and style of his 'Queen' and his cheeks flushed uncharacteristically when he realised he may – or may not – have basically been drawing the blonde constellation girl, thus causing him to glance over at her to see if she was ready to give him her book.

That was when he noticed her pale skin was in fact beginning to darken to the shade of his hair. Without thinking he plucked his umbrella out of the sand and placed it near her so she was in the shade. Natsu wasn't sure why he reacted so quickly, as if through instinct he had to protect her.

'Weird..' He thought to himself as he slowly returned to his spot. After a while he grew impatient and just wanted the blonde to wake up so he could use her book. The fates of his dragons were at stake! So he ripped out a piece of scrap paper at the back of his sketchpad and began scribbling down a small note, also deciding to explain why she was in the shade now.

 _Hey.. constellation girl._

 _Sorry you don't know me, but you were beginning to burn up in the sun whilst sleeping, I mean.. who doesn't bring a parasol or umbrella if they're as white as the inside of a bounty.. weirdo.._

 _I hope you don't I've let you use my umbrella but if I'm for some reason not here then here is my number 04XXX XXX XXX so you can call to give it to me!_

 _From the salmon haired dragon,_

 _P.s. I may have also borrowed your book for research.. thanks! :D_

Part of him wanted to wait until she woke up, so he could actually meet her and thank her for giving him the ideas for his Dragon Queen, but another part of him wanted her to HAVE to call him, just so they could meet up. He didn't know what it was about this girl, but he felt as if he knew her, not from seeing her around town or something, but from another life, her presence just felt.. natural? Eugh he was beginning to sound like that waitress down at the pub in town.. what was her name, MiraJane!

Nevertheless, Natsu picked himself up and made his way over to the blonde so he could slide the book out from underneath her and slip the note there instead, before she could wake up.

A good hour passed, no one else came to the cove and it was silent besides the waves stroking the sand, a few seagulls' cries overhead and the scratching of Natsu's pencil against paper.

* * *

Another hour and a half passed until the blonde's eyes began to flutter open, whereas Natsu's had closed 30 minutes before when he finished sketching both of his constellation-based ideas.

Lucy's heavy eyes opened to two things she was not expecting.

The shade? And not completely burned skin! (She was not complaining about this one though, she was eternally grateful, god knows wearing a bra over sunburnt skin is hell.)

Her NEW book was missing and a crumpled up piece of paper was there instead.

Instead of panicking like she usually would have, Lucy felt oddly calm about the whole thing, even comfortable! I mean she just had her book taken! She shouldn't be feeling comfortable?! After simply taking a deep breath, she began to read the oddly familiar handwriting.

 _Hey.. constellation girl._ (Constellation girl, really? She had a name, jeez..)

 _Sorry you don't know me,_ (Yeah no shit.) _but you were beginning to burn up in the sun whilst sleeping, I mean.. who doesn't bring a parasol or umbrella if they're as white as the inside of a bounty.. weirdo.._ (…Did they just compare me to the inside of a chocolate bar? And call me a weirdo? They're the one who just left a random stranger a weird note!)

 _I hope you don't I've let you use my umbrella but if I'm for some reason not here then here is my number 04XXX XXX XXX so you can call to give it to me!_

 _From the salmon haired dragon_ ,(Hang on..)

She stood up and looked to her right as soon as her eyes skimmed over that sentence _. 'HA! Nailed it with the colour!_ ' She inwardly cheered herself.

 _P.s. I may have also borrowed your book for research.. thanks! :D_ (Well that explains what happened to my book then..)

She sauntered over to Pinkie, only slowing down when she realised he wasn't just sunbathing he was actually asleep with his sketchpad lying open over his, admittedly rather well built, chest. Before picking up his sketchpad to find her book underneath, she gave him a look over.

His tan skin contrasted with his pink hair but in a way that complimented each other, increasing the impact of both. Drool was evident at the edge of his open mouth as he let out soft snores every now and then. Lucy began to giggle, but her laughter was cut short as she looked over the double-page spread he had been working on.

On one side was a gorgeously sketched and labelled dragon surrounded by stars, and notes on different constellations were dotted over the page. Honestly it was breath taking. How could this Pink-haired-book-thief produce such phenomenal art! Though her writer's imagination was captured by the detail going into the planning behind the dragon on the first page, it was the other one that managed to catch her heart, and made a blush drown out her freckles.

It was her? It was Lucy?! Only as a Celestial Queen! She was wearing the beginnings of a long dress, the back trailing off into a galaxy of stars behind her and had her hair down flowing like the tail of a comet, with a half-smirk playing on her plump lips and her eyes brighter than the stars in the background.

Never in her entire life had Lucy felt so honoured and embarrassed, yet there was no on here to share the moment with her! (Lucy actually thanked her lucky stars for that because a certain short blue-haired colleague would NEVER let her live this down.)

* * *

After considering for a moment, Lucy placed the sketchbook back down left her book behind (totally NOT on purpose, it's not like she WANTED an excuse to have to see the amazing artist who managed to spark her character creativity..), she sped over to her things, grabbed her phone and a pen and slung her bag onto her shoulder. Before leaving she grabbed pinkie's hand and scribbled her own number signing it with –CelestialQueen ;), before taking a quick snap of the two drawings and rushing to her car.

After all, Lucy had to be quick otherwise she would forget the idea she just got for the celestial wizards partner-in-crime. A pink haired pyromaniac dragon-slayer. Oh how the puzzle pieces of her book were finally forming a picture.

A large grin tugged at her lips as she reached her car and almost squealed in excitement, looks like she was going to pull another all-nighter, only this time, it was going to lead somewhere full of adventure and maybe a dash of romance for good measure.


End file.
